A New World and its Hidden Secrets (Book 1: The Unknown World)
by Haloalpha
Summary: This is the first book of a series that will be based on similar guidelines to an anime. Book 1 will be based on Qualidea Code with a similar storyline, but with different characters. The main character will embark on a journey to uncover the real secrets while retaining his high school life. Please comment, even if you didn't like it, and tell me what I can improve on!
1. Chapter 1 - Wake Up

***** "Deep-Sleep Pod 200001 is deactivating."

"Bring that subject out of it."

Noises started to stir in my ears that soon turned into voices. Before long, I could hear the content of their conversation even when my brain still felt sluggish.

 _Where am I?_ I wondered as I felt my body being lifted out of the pod.

"Get him ready for basic tests, he should still be unconscious and recovering from deep sleep."

"Um... I'm awake you know?" I croaked with all my strength. My throat felt like a desert and my jaws ached terribly.

"Wait, how could he be awake already?"

As my eyes adjusted to the light, I could see that there were a few people wearing white coats pushing the cart.

"Sir, we've got a few more people that are behaving like him."

"Get these subjects together, we're going to perform some tests on them," the person who seemed to be in charge ordered. _Tests? Why am I like this? Who are these people?_ Thoughts raced through my mind, but no words came out of my mouth as I was wheeled into a room with several other people. I slowly turned my head in agony, as my joints felt rusted, and saw another bewildered person lying on a bed.

"Wait a sec, Daniel is that you?" I exclaimed. The person turned his head slowly, looked at me, and managed a painful smile.

"Do you know what's happening?" I whispered.

"No idea, I'm still a bit drowsy..." Daniel groaned. I sighed as I turned my head back and relaxed, trying hard to not think too much about it. Soon, the room was filled with about two dozen people, all bewildered and confused about their surroundings and situation.

"Do you think these people are the ones?" a man asked his colleague.

"If they are, then we've really hit the jackpot. We might even be able to turn the tide of the war!" his colleague exclaimed, trying to contain his excitement.

Before long, the men in white coats started to attach and strap some devices onto us and quickly hustled out of the room.

"What the hell?" I muttered just as the lights in the room went out. The devices strapped onto our bodies hummed for a while as they performed their duties and soon halted. The lights came back on, and the men again filed in to remove those things. The room was chilly, and with only a pair of underpants on, I was shivering in pain. A man soon came up to me, but instead of putting something warm on me to keep me from dying, he took out a syringe and roughly jabbed the needle into my left arm.

"You asshole..." I moaned in pain as I fell into a deep sleep. And that was the last thing I remembered about those special tests.


	2. Chapter 2 - Choose Your Duty

***** "Dude, what course are you choosing?" a short teenager asked as he slapped me on the back.

"Alex!" I exclaimed.

"So? What are you going to choose?" he questioned.

"I don't know, probably the Navy. You?" I replied.

"What do you think, obviously it's the scouts with the ground forces! I ain't going with the air force nor the navy, having both feet on the ground is the best."

"Oh well, I wouldn't want to fly on wand flyers or just with magic..." I muttered.

"I wouldn't want to attack from the sea on ships or underwater," Alexander chuckled. "But I guess you're destined to lead the Navy."

"Well Administrative wants us to split up to take the lead in each part," another student sighed as he walked towards us and added, "Commands nice too you know..."

"Daniel... You should just take up your responsibility as a leading member of the Army," I scolded. The young teenager, whose height is comparable to Alexander's, is our school's brightest student in the field of close-range fighting on land. Alex, although not the best, still possess immense skills in close-quarters fighting, putting him in pretty much second, just behind Daniel. It had been three years since we, children under eighteen years old, were woken up from our deep-sleep pods. The surprise invasion of the Unknowns forced governments around the world to relocate its minor population in deep-sleep stations around the world to avoid an extinction of a species. Three years ago, we were roused from our pods and were told that the war had became a stalemate. However, with humanity's population decimated, children above the age eleven were sent off to military schools to fight against the Unknowns. Taiwan's government seemed to have collapsed, and multiple states replaced its former government. The adults told us that countries around the world have collapsed and that we were one of the more fortunate ones, as a new government was created instead of being thrown into chaos and war. Being hibernated in Taipei, we now belonged to the Capital State and act as soldiers while taking classes at the Capital Military Academy.

"Why do we have to rely on magic?" I sighed as the three of us walked into the command center. Magic, a power that was discovered when the Capital awoke us. It seems that only children had the ability to employ magic, and were thus prized in the Capital Army. By exporting an energy source inside our bodies called mana, the energy flow is able to turn into a raw form of magic. Studies focused on magic conversion showed massive results when weapons and body enhancement equipment were produced that were powered using magic. The Capital State invented a transformation chip implanted on our back to convert raw magic into the usable magic that could be applied and powered weapons and other products. The Capital Military Academy, a school that facilitated the training of its students both militarily and academically, was created to help teach children with magic capabilities.

"You guys are late," Alice, a girl known for being able to handle pretty much all sorts of combat scenarios, scolded us. By the time the three of us walked in, the other members of the meeting were already seated in their chairs around a large table.

"Alice, give them some slack," Emilia defended. Emilia Hsu, a Command student that specializes in coordinating attacks, is known for her soothing voice and collectiveness on the Comm-link and has a special magic spell that can calm people down when they're in a panic, earning her the nickname "Angel."

"Humph," Alice grumbled.

"Sorry," Daniel squeaked.

"We know, we know, anyone care to explain why we're all here?" I asked, quickly finding an open spot at the table to sit down.

"You guys are here to decide on who leads each department," a deep voice answered as Administrative Supervisor Hulkenberg stepped out. Supervisor Hulkenberg, or Dean Hulkenberg, is the man in charge of our whole grade. "The Alpha Squad contains most of the strongest people in our academy, and I hope that all of you can become leaders and examples for others."

The Alpha Squad currently consists of twelve members of the Academy that are the best-of-the-best. We take in new members if the administration and more than half of our team believe he or she should become a new member. And to be honest, I think it's time for us to scout out some new talents in the school.

"Wait, we don't even get to choose?" Ruri, a short, energetic girl who specializes in close-hand-to-hand combat, exclaimed.

"The Administrative decided that you guys have to be evenly split so each force is evenly balanced," another person spoke out. This was expected, as the seven boys and five girls participating this meeting consisted of the best-of-the-best in the academy.

"Dude, do I look like I care?" Joseph, our main strategist, sneered. While being a critical member as a strategist and a top coordinator in any offensive or defensive battles, Joseph is known in the school for his carefree and critical views on the academy.

"First of all, it is Supervisor Suzuki. Second, although let you people stay in charge of the forces and school, we adults are still you seniors and commanders," Supervisor Suzuki growled.

"Yeah sure, let the kids fight the war and have the adults sit back and watch," Andre, a mid-range shooter, added fuel to the fire as the adults glared at him.

"Unfortunately, we adults don't have access to magic like you kids do. This source of magic still had to be harnessed from the bodies, that's why you have those chips on the back of your neck that controls the usage of magic. Furthermore, you are the most important defense line for our operations against the Unknown." Supervisor Hulkenberg said coldly.

"Unfortunately, your aces aren't really in the mood of listening," I sneered.

"Sigh... I'm never gonna get tired of this!" Daniel giggled.

"Let's just follow the Administrative's plan now," Atlas, whose magic abilities specializing in receiving and nullifying both magic or non-magic attacks, suggested.

"Even so, how are we going to split ourselves?" Alex asked.

"There are four departments, and we have... Twelve people, right? Damn, only three people per department?" Joseph grumbled. The four main departments, Command, Army, Navy, and Air Force are how the school sorts its students by their magic capabilities. The Administration decides who goes to which department by evaluating their personalities, test scores from different fighting scenarios, and skills. There is also the Construction Department, a newly established branch that is led by adults and is aimed at students who have low-level magic capabilities and engage in repair and construction jobs.

"I know that, but how are we going to split?" Daniel asked.

"How about the overall ranking?" Lindsey, another Command student that is extremely proficient in data analyzing, suggested.

"Oh my god, I totally forgot about the overall ranking," Ruri moaned as she flopped her chest onto the table. The overall ranking, a system created by our school to rank students by their kill score, excluding command and construction students. The system was used to boost competitiveness between students, as the scores were extremely important to a student's wellbeing. The ranking, deemed by a student's kill score, which is accumulated by the number of Unknowns and their pieces of machinery killed. The ranking would affect a student's term grade, and also term payments. As a boarding school, students had to earn money themselves, either by working in the city for receiving payments from their ranks. Higher ranks also came with bonuses such as better dorm selections, private lounges, and much more.

"By the way, who's leading?" Joseph asked.

"I think it's obvious," Alex muttered as he pointed at a screen on a wall displaying the rankings, "it's right there."

"Well, well, well, it's Lucania," Joseph mumbled.

"It's me?" I exclaimed. I was always on the higher-ends of the leaderboard, but first? I wasn't expecting that.

"So? What's your decision?" Daniel asked.

"For the Command Department, it should be Emilia, Joseph, and Lindsey. The Navy Department will consist of Maximillian-"

"Luca, how many times do I have to say, call me Max," Maximillian, one of our top snipers and the best at long range attack underwater, grumbled.

"Sorry," I squeaked. "Well, let me say this again. The Navy Department will consist of Max, Andre, and I. The Army Department will have more commanders, as most of our battles will be fought on land. Atlas, Alice, Daniel, Alex, Ruri, Florence will be commanders of that department," I suggested.

"No Air Force personnel?" Supervisor Hulkenberg interrupted.

"The Air Force will be integrated with the Army Air Force Department was never a popular one with the students. Plus, we don't have enough students that are familiar with air combat," I explained.

"I see..." Hulkenberg frowned, crossing his arms.

"I guess this concludes the meeting?" Joseph asked, looking at the two supervisors.

"That seems to be the case," Hulkenberg said, staring at a data-pad on the table. The twelve students stared at him, waiting for his verdict. The supervisor, who seemed to be lost in his thoughts for quite some time, suddenly stood up from his chair, startling me.

"Is he gonna reject this?" Alex, who was sitting next to me, asked.

"I don't-"

"Very well, I guess this will be the finalized version," Hulkenberg suddenly declared. "The members of each department should be finalized soon. For now, all of you should just stick to your current companies for training."

"Sounds good to me," I grunted. A quick look at the clock shows the hour hand at 12.

"Meeting dismissed," Supervisor Suzuki ordered.

"Lunch?" I asked Daniel as we stood up and headed for the exit.

"Sure," my friend replied. "Let's hope lunch is good."

"It's a private lounge, obviously the food's gonna be good," I grumbled. "Well, at least most of the times."


	3. Chapter 3 - Practice? More Like a Patrol

***** "So, do we have practice this afternoon?" I asked as I sipped on my drink.

"Yeah, it starts right after school," Andre replied.

"Aw, another one? I'm so tired..." Daniel groaned.

"You aren't gonna skip practice, are you?" I said.

"Look at who's talking huh?"Andre scolded.

"Sigh, you guys..." Max grumbled.

"But it's gonna be sea practice," Daniel wailed.

"We had land training for the past four weeks already," I objected. "Time for something new."

The four of us, allocated to Company Alpha, were having a quick snack and drink at the Paragon Lounge, dedicated for only the top ten students of each department. Company Alpha, one of the fourteen two-hundred-men companies in the school, is currently on border patrol duties and sea training. All fourteen companies revolve around a set of practices that last for around two weeks. After that, the companies will rotate and work on another set. For example, Company Alpha was taking guerrilla warfare training for the last two weeks and will be starting underwater maneuvers while taking on border patrol duties.

"Can't we just do it in the pool?" Daniel whined.

"We have patrol duties too," Max replied.

"On the bright side, at least we're rotating practice and patrolling," Andre said.

"Are we leading practice?" I asked Max.

"No."

"Great, then I'm skipping this one."

"Oh no you aren't," a voice growled as a hand for behind landed firmly on my shoulder.

"Is that who I think that is?" I asked slowly. Andre nodded. "I changed my mind, I'm going, SIR..."

The grip relaxed and the man replied, "That's the answer I wanted. See you guys at three o'clock sharp."

As the man walked away, I complained to my friends, "He gets on my nerves."

"Of course he does, you lazy idiot," Max scolded. "Supervisor Kim is one of the most hardcore trainers in our grade!"

"Mhm, you're not gonna escape this time; he's got spec-ops group on standby," Andre chirped in.

"Who?" I asked.

"Anti-Magic User Units," Andre sighed.

"Well, I guess I'm gonna have to tough it out," I grumbled, slouching down on a sofa.

"That's the spirit!" Max chuckled.

"Can't someone replace me?" Daniel wailed, seemingly determined to skip practice.

"We're the only ones who have late-practice, no one else is available," Max answered. While the Capital State wants us to still be able to learn, one of our main jobs is to fight the Unknowns. This means that school days are usually divided into class-time and practice-time. Classes go from eight in the morning to twelve, while practice usually goes from one-thirty to five in the afternoon. However, late practices can occur in order to train for night battles and are pre-scheduled in order for students to be able to plan out their week.

"You guys, it's almost time for practice!" a girl interrupted the four of us. I quickly turned around to see who was talking.

"Karen..."

Karen Chan, another member of Company Alpha, is one of the best girls in our school, both in academics and fighting skills; well, we shouldn't forget about her looks and body, which are both on point. Although not the best at a certain area, she can be said to be on par with Allison, but with more abilities, a complete jack-of-all-trades. I would've put her in Command, but her fighting skills are too precious to just throw away. The energetic girl is so pretty that she even has a fanbase and do modeling shots during her spare time, earning her the nickname "Athena". To be honest, I'm surprised that she wasn't included in the original members of the Alpha Squad, probably because she declined the offer.

"Geez, you commanders have to be more responsible!"

"Do I look like I'm responsible?" I asked.

"If you aren't, I'll make you," she growled, smiling darkly as she lightly chopped at my head.

"Give me a break, Karen..." I mumbled.

"Geez... You have to come to practice, ok?" Karen pleaded before leaving the lounge.

"She's so annoying," I whined at Daniel, who was struggling to contain his smirk.

"You two are so cute together!" Daniel squealed. I sighed and rolled my eyes as the others burst out laughing. As the guys laughed, I cleared my throat and asked, "It's almost time for practice, isn't it?"

"Oh, you wanna go early to see her in her swimsuit?" Max teased.

"Can we just go..." I sighed as I chucked down the remaining of my drink.

"Sure, sure, sure, let's go." Andre beamed.

***** "We've got some nice weather here!" Andre shouted as he charged towards the ocean.

"I'm currently in the 'not in the water so dying' mode," I muttered, dragging myself pass the docks and towards the ocean.

"Have you seen Karen?" a person asked me.

"Ah, David!" I exclaimed as I turned around. "Looking for your crush again?"

"C'mon sir, I know you're not into her!" David, Karen's partner, whispered in my ears. Partners, usually in pairs, signifies a special relationship between the two that can help boost the fighting efficiently and prowess of the partners if deployed together.

"Hey, you never know. She's so pretty that even I might fall for her!" I teased David.

"Luca!" he wailed.

"Relax, I'm just joking," I chuckled. "Unfortunately, I haven't seen her."

"Aw, that's too bad-"

"DAVID!" Karen yelled as she charged into David, knocking him to the ground.

"I guess I'll leave you lovebirds alone," I chuckled as I walk towards the others.

"Sir!?" a student squeaked in astonishment at the sight of me.

"Listen up guys," I shouted, "we'll be splitting into two groups. One will be doing drills while the other does on patrolling, that's all!"

"Sir, you actually showed up to practice!" a student exclaimed.

"I wouldn't be here unless..."

Before I could finish my sentence, a 7.62 x 51mm sniper round landed just in front of my feet.

"Like I said," I coughed, "unless the school didn't put four sniper teams on standby."

"Let's just don't do anything weird," Andre ordered.

"We've got trainers to lead you guys through the drills," Karen added quickly.

"I guess I'll just take it easy today," I muttered to myself.

"Luca, we've got assigned duties!" Daniel shouted, pointing at a data-pad.

"What do I have?" I asked.

"Patrolling."

"What do you have?"

"Training."

"Andre?"

"Training."

"Max?"

"Training."

"I'm alone?" I wailed.

"Bad luck," Daniel said, patting my back. "On the bright side, Karen has patrolling too."

"Urgh, I'll go find her..." I mumbled as I parted ways with my friends. The girl was pretty easy to spot, standing tall among her peers. Plus, who can miss those pair of boobs constraint in that sleek black swimsuit?

"Karen!" I shouted, motioning at the girl to come towards me.

"Luca, need something?" she asked.

"Today you're having my back," I told her.

"That's unusual. Why?"

"I don't have anyone else. Plus, David has training first, right?"

"That's true... I guess we can partner up."

"Sounds good to me."

"Where are we going?"

"To Jagged Island, the tip of our frontline."

"Swimming or by boat?"

"Boat," I replied as I pointed to a RIB nearby.

"This is Fireteam Alpha-One, we are patrolling point 5 on the frontline, requesting other groups to support the other points," I asked over the Comm-Link.

"Roger that sir, Charlize and Delta Platoon will be patrolling there," someone answered.

"Thanks, report in if you see anything," Max ordered through the COMs. Karen, did you bring your armor suit?" I asked as the Rigid Inflatable Boat charged for Jagged Island.

"Of course," she replied and added, "I also got some upgrades from R and D too."

"Good to hear," I murmured as I slowed the RIB down just off the shorelines of Rigid Island, an island that is located just on the perimeter of the Capital's shields. The shield is supposed to reduce and deter Unknown attacks by giving off a special electronic signal that Capital scientists discovered and created. This signal is said to be only harmful to Unknowns and will also damage their pieces of machinery, as the signal also works as a jamming device. After several upgrades on the shield, the number of Unknown attacks did decrease. But attacks are still common, around once or twice a month; better than the four or sometimes even five attacks a month in previous years.

"We're swimming from this point to get a closer look at the island's surroundings. Activating underwater magic," I ordered.

"It's a bit cold for a sunny day in April, don't you think?" Karen asked. Touching the water, she quickly added, "Urgh, it's so cold!"

"Relax, just give me a second, and you'll thank me."

"What do you mean?" Karen questioned.

I touched her forehead, muttered some spells and said, "You'll see."

As we dive into the water, the girl gaped in amazement.

"It's not cold at all, I just feel a warm breeze around me!"

"See, I told you," I smiled as we swam deeper into the ocean.

"I'm bored. Can we go closer to the shores? There're more things there to look at."

"Sure, it's not like there's anything to patrol here. Anyways, don't you find it weird that we only have three six-hundred-men battalions and two hundred people working as Command?"

"You're forgetting those four hundred people that work with Construction."

"They're mostly people with weak magic or none at all, I don't really care."

"So mean."

"Says you."

As we swam closer to the shoreline, sunlight shined through the water, brightening our surroundings.

"I haven't gone to the south for a while, wanna come with me?"

"I'm not going to even try contacting them; not after what their laser cannons have done."

"You're still angry about that? It's been six months."

"We lost so many people on that day..."


	4. Chapter 4 - Memories (Midterms?)

***** _SIX MONTHS AGO_

" _This is an announcement from the Administrative, as a test for the midterms, we, the Capital Army, are going to work with other groups from the south in a defense exercise at Taoyuan International Airport and Harbor. Transports will be leaving this afternoon, please report to the airfield immediately. That is all."_

"We're only trained for two years and they're already deploying us into battle?" Daniel groaned.

"Don't we do that all the time..." I sighed as I double-checked my armor settings. An armor suit is a basic equipment for a soldier in the Capital Army. It comes with advanced technology that assists soldiers in combat and has the ability to mitigate damage from enemy fire. Unfortunately, students in the Capital Army are only given a basic training-armor suit, which provides basic assists such as a HUD (Heads-up Display) and Comm-link in the helmet and light armor that can only mitigate light damage from enemy fire. However, if a person wants to receive a better armor suit, they can either buy one from the school's R&D Facility or purchase a custom-made suit from outside companies. This only applies to people who have extra money generated from their term payments. As a member of the Alpha Squad, my payments easily rack up to almost a million credits. On the other hand, some people with lower ranks may earn as less as ten thousand credits, which is still fifty thousand credits short of a cheap armor suit.

"Last time we had a midterm, it didn't end so well," Joseph growled in annoyance. The two midterms during a school-year at the Capital Military Academy are always filled with unnecessary surprises. Last year's finals saw the Capital State go on the counteroffensive against the Unknowns. Students were randomly placed into platoons of thirty people and participated in a night raid against an Unknown FOB (Forward Operating Base) located around two hundred kilometers away from Taiwan. The raid was supposed to be an easy one, with intelligence data showing only light air defenses and a few hundred Uknowns. However, when we actually parachuted onto the island, we suddenly found ourselves in the midst of a heavily defended base. Our forces were quickly forced out of the island and had to request Capital air support and rescue force to get all the students out. The finals were canceled as a result but at a price of a hundred or so students who died in the chaos as our forces tried to retreat.

"Let's hope it'll go on smoothly," I muttered. The six boys of the Alpha Squad were already finished packing and suiting up and were ready for deployment. The girls, however...

"Are you guys done suiting up?" Andre growled from outside the women's locker room.

"Give us a second, we're girls OK?" Alice shot back.

"By the way, do you want me to be sniper this time?" I asked Florence, our team's other permanent sniper, and the best in the Capital Military.

"Well, all the spellcasters here are going to be the same as snipers, so I suppose you can be assault," she replied.

"Roger," I answered.

"Guys, our transport is leaving soon!" Daniel fretted.

"No worries, they're gonna wait for us," Andre assured him.

"More like they have to wait for us," Joseph grunted.

"Lucky we've got our own locker rooms to change," Alex chuckled as the muffles of the shouts from the students downstairs could be heard from here.

"It's not like the locker room is completely ours," Joseph said. "We're still sharing it with top-ten students from each department."

"Well, if only Alpha Squad had all the privileges, then we might as well not have the ranking system since only twelve people have access to the perk, don't you think," I asked.

"I guess that's true," Joseph mumbled.

"Are we all ready?" Daniel asked as the girls finally exited their locker room.

"Pretty much," Emilia replied.

"Let's get moving," I ordered. As we move out and onto the airfield, many other students were already waiting in line to check-in for their designated transport. The airfield was bustling with D-80T Skyhawk transports getting ready for takeoff and cargo planes loading supplies for the exercise.

"Brass is pretty worked up for this, aren't they?" Alex asked.

"Of course they are. The operation is planned by southern commanders. We're just bystanders and participants, so obviously they'll be cautious," Emilia replied. As we walked past dozens of normal transports, the crew members quickly spotted us and saluted at us. Daniel and some others saluted or waved back, I just ignored them and kept walking forward.

"Dude, I heard that aside from midterms, this defense score also goes to the overall ranking!" someone exclaimed.

"Don't get too excited, _they're_ coming too..." someone else muttered as we walked through the airfield.

"Great, Alpha Squad's here; they're just going to kill-steal on us," someone muttered.

"I know right, they're only that good because they've got higher magic levels than us. If I had that level, I would be way better than them," someone else boasted.

"It's so unfair, they get all the perks while we're treated like pigs."

"I bet I can beat them in one on one."

"Guys, there's no way their scores can be that high. They must have hacked the system and made our scores lower while making theirs higher."

I recognized his voice, it was Ash, a cocky Rank 120 studying in the Army Department.

"Shh, if they hear you, we'll get punished!" someone growled.

"Who cares, they've got no right to do that. Plus, I'm rank 120, they're going to need me," he boasted. The others chuckled. I also see other people glaring at us. They're called the Failures. Most of them have little to no magic abilities, so they work in the Construction Department.

"Hey, you Failures, you've got no right to glare at them. Only high-ranking people like me can do that!" Ash sneered as he punched one of them. People stared but didn't do anything, either because they're scared or didn't care.

"You guys, stop!" Daniel yelled as he tried to run towards them. I blocked him with my hand and muttered, "It's not like I want to be so compatible with magic."

"You see, they can't defend themselves! That's why they're called Failures!" Ash snarled. I sighed as I dashed towards him, and before he could react, placed my rifle under his chin.

"Can you please shut up? You pest," I growled.

"What the..." Ash stammered as I pressed my gun's ice-cold barrel tight on his chin.

"I said shut up, you're such an eyesore," I said coldly. Ash stopped kicking the Failure and strangled back.

"That's enough, Lucania, stop what you're doing!" an Administrative Supervisor shouted as he ran towards us. I glared at him and fired my pistol, having the round land in front of his feet.

"Shut up, you're giving me cancer," I growled.

"How, how dare you! Guards, take him down!" the Supervisor ordered. The guards shifted uncomfortably, as no one dared to move. I eyed Daniel and he nodded back, he then whispered something to the group. When the guards finally started to move, my team dashed and surrounded them.

"Don't even think about it," Daniel chuckled as he knocked the Supervisor down on the ground and pointed his gun at his head.

"Thanks, guys," I said. "And you Ash, we don't really have time right now. We'll deal with this later when we get to Taoyuan. No, we're gonna deal with this when we get back. I'm not gonna disgrace and smear our nation's honor."

Ash muttered something inaudible to me, spat on the ground, and left for his transport with his friends. I looked at the Failures and said, "I don't really like you guys, but we need your help in Construction. Also, if you have a problem with their current ranking; feel free to challenge any one of the members of Alpha Squad. Remember, we have a testing facility that can increase or limit your magic abilities. So, if you want to fight me or anyone else on the Alpha Squad one on one, I'm always ready for the challenge."

"By the way, we don't really mind multiple people at a time," Joseph added. "Luca can probably take on more than fifty people at a time. So please, feel free to 'beat us in one on one."

"I'm not done with you guys!" the Supervisor yelled.

"Stop complaining, you old geezer," Lindsey shouted as we stepped aboard our specialized D85T Skyhawk.

Note: Luca is Lucania's nickname


	5. Chapter 5 - Memories (Hotel)

***** "This is Transport Alpha; we are prepared for landing," our pilot radioed to the temporary ground controls of the Taoyuan TOB (Temporary Operating Base) after a quick half-an-hour ride from Taipei.

"Negative, Transport Alpha, we do not have any open space for you guys to land; please wait."

"Bullshit, I just saw another transport land!" Alex complained.

"I told you, the ground crews are from the South; they hate us," Joseph replied.

"Give me the damn Comms!" I growled. "This is Transport Alpha, listen up you god damn traffic controller; if this transport doesn't land right now, I will personally have you court-martialed."

"Hahaha, as who?" the traffic controller sneered.

"As the commander of the Capital Army," I replied coldly. There was silence for a while and another man's voice came through.

"Ah, Mr. Lee, right? I'm very sorry, that was one of our rookies. He was unable to realize that this transport holds the commanders of the Capital Army, he will be punished severely. Please land on platform 1-01."

"Thank you very much," I answered as our Skyhawk swooped down onto the landing pad.

"That worked out pretty well," Atlas exclaimed.

"I sense an edge and resentment in his voice though," Florence murmured.

"I guess we're not welcomed here huh?" Lindsey sighed. Unlike the Northern Forces, the Southern Forces do not rely on magic but on technology. They focus on advance pulse lasers to be used as weapons while our scientists research how to change magic into weaponry. The Northern Forces, also known as the Northern Capital Army, focused on raising kids that were put into sleeping pods, who were compatible with magic. The Southern Forces, known as the Southern United Forces, focused on building a normal army containing adults. They've always disagreed on the use of child soldiers, but they've recently explored the realm of child soldiers while we've started training special anti-unknown units containing adults. From history lessons I learned in class, it seems that the Southern Forces broke off from the Northern Forces when the original government fell apart. The two sides are usually on good terms, as the Unknowns are a common enemy. However, both sides harbor grudges on economic and territory disputes and have constant rivalries between their militaries.

"Sir, we have landed," the pilot reported.

"Thanks," I said to the pilot. Heading back to the transport's troop bay, I shouted to my friends, "We're good, let's get moving!"

The transport loadmaster quickly lowered the bay door and allowed us to exit the craft. Outside, the base was filled with temporary landing platforms and was bustling with people from both states.

" _All Capital Child Soldiers, please check-into the buildings left of the landing pads,"_ the announcement speakers blasted.

"That was intentional..." Alex muttered.

"Geez..." Emilia grumbled.

"By the way, where are we staying?" Joseph asked.

"Supervisor Suzuki and Hulkenberg did book us rooms at a hotel, but I think the others would probably have to stay in those old buildings..." I muttered. We took our belongings and got onto a bus that drove us to the Capital Hotel, a chain hotel brand that had at least one hotel located in each city.

"Supervisor Suzuki and Supervisor Hulkenburg had booked rooms for the twelve of us," I told the lady at the counter.

"Of course, the keys are here," the attendant explained.

"Thank you," I answered.

"Well, how are we going to split up? Joseph asked as we shot up through the building in the elevator. "Can we just choose who we want?"

"I guess we can do that," I replied and added, "I'll take Daniel."

"Hey, I want him to!" Atlas exclaimed.

"First come first serve," I growled as I grabbed Daniel.

"Can we not fight in the elevator?" Daniel whined. As we arrived on the top floor, a usual sight greeted us. An outdoor swimming pool located at the end of the hallway, six suites, and a group of staff ready to serve us.

"No one leaves the hotel building alone, move in groups. We're meeting the others at nine in the morning for training exercises, so get ready by 8:30," I ordered.

"So, what are we going to do now?" Daniel asked.

"Anything, just don't go overboard," I replied.

"Wanna eat dinner together?" Alex suggested.

"I don't mind," Daniel chuckled as the group dispersed. I scanned our hotel card against our room's card scanner, allowing the door to open as Daniel immediately charged in. The presidential suite that we will be staying at contains two queen-sized beds, two bathrooms with one containing a shower room and large bathtub, a living room, a kitchen, and dining room. It's just like a fancy home, and I wish I could stay here forever. There was a card on the dining table with a bottle of champagne in an ice bucket. The bellman brought our luggage and equipment in quietly, I turned and gave him five thousand credits. He nodded and walked quietly out the room.

"The bed is so comfy!" Daniel exclaimed as he dives onto his bed.

"I guess that's your bed," I muttered as I picked up the card, it had the greetings of the CEO of Capital Hotel Group.

 _"Dear Mr. Lee and Mr. Chen, we are delighted to have our VVIPs coming to stay at our hotel again. The two-week stay will be accompanied by special breakfast, lunch, and dinners. Please present your hotel card to the waiters and they will know who you are. If there is anything that you guys need, please call 0001 and a group of special-personnel will be ready to help you at all times. We wish you the best and have a great stay here."_

"He actually put some effort into writing this card, did he?" I asked. I turned to see Daniel already half-dead on the couch.

"Weren't you on the bed?" I asked.

"The couch feels nice too," Daniel murmured.

"Don't sleep there," I exclaimed, but he was already asleep.

"Geez, you're so troublesome sometimes," I sighed as I picked him up.

 _Geez, he's such a handful._ I grumbled as I tucked him into bed.

"Sweet dreams, and sleep tight," I murmured. I turned off the lights but left the door opened. opening a can of coke, and poured it out into a glass filled with ice.

"Maybe we should all go on a vacation around the world," I muttered to myself. That probably won't happen, with a war happening and an army to lead. I checked my watch, it was already 7:30 p.m.

 _No dinner for him I guess._ I changed into my uniform, brought my wallet and watch, and finally my phone with earphones on.

"Let see what dinners do they offer," I said and chuckled as I left the room. As I walked towards the elevator, I saw two of my team members in formal clothing.

"You guys eating fancy?" I asked as I slapped Alex's back.

"Yeah, what about you?" he replied.

"I'm just gonna look around, it's not like I have to eat fancy."

"Where's Daniel?" Ruri asked.

"He's asleep, I'll order food for him later."

"Aw, such a gentleman," Ruri chuckled.

"I'm not gay..." I grumbled. As we chattered away, an elevator soon arrived and our group quickly entered it.

"Restaurants are on the 5th floor, right?" Alex asked.

"Yeah," Ruri, his roommate, replied.

"Where are the others?" I asked

"I think some of them will join us later," Ruri answered.

"I see..." I mumbled. Focusing on the pair, I teased, "By the way, aren't you two quite bold?"

"Well, we are dating," Alex protested.

"It's not like we're the only ones doing it," Ruri added. "Joseph is staying with Emilia, and Andre is with Alice-"

"Don't forget Max and Florence," Alex interrupted. "And Lindsey and Atlas."

"Geez, all of you are so bold, already sleeping with each other..." I grumbled. "But that's pretty cute."

The elevator stopped on the 5th floor. We filed out and were greeted by quite a ton of other people who mostly wore casual clothing.

"It kinda weird, isn't it? We are out there fighting a war while these civilians just go on vacations and live in fancy hotels," Alex asked.

"Well, most attacks are contained along the beach, so most citizens are unaffected," I explained. "Plus, even in wartimes, life for the average citizen still keeps on going, right?"

"Do you want to eat with us?" Ruri asked.

"Wouldn't I be interrupting your date with Alex?" I asked.

"It's fine since the others will be joining us," Ruri replied.

"If you don't mind..." I said.

"But we're eating fancy," Alex objected, "are you going back to change?"

"Nah, let me perform a magic trick," I chuckled and muttered, "suit with black tie."

My clothes instantly changed into a fancy suit and I followed up another command for my shoes. As people gaped and pointed at my performance, I simply chuckled and said, "Let's get moving!"

"I really wonder if this guy's a magician or a solider," Ruri muttered.

"I'll take that as a compliment," I said with a smile. Turning to Alex, I asked, "Did you book a restaurant?"

"No, but we're probably eating French," Alex replied. I quickly spotted a French restaurant, but there was a long line outside, causing Ruri to groan in annoyance.

"Let me check," I assured him. I walked up to the waiter taking the names and asked, "Do you have seats for eight?"

"I'm very sorry but you're going to have to wait for at least two hours. We're really full now," the waiter replied.

"Two hours!?" I exclaimed. Just as I was about to walk back to the couple to tell them the bad news, I suddenly realized something. I took out my pass showed him it, "does this make it faster?"

"Of course, those are VVIP passes! I apologize for my mistake, I didn't know that you people are the VVIPs!" the waiter apologized as he quickly led us into a private room, with everyone staring at us.

"We still have a few people that are coming, but we can order first," Alex told the waiter.

"I want a bottle of champagne," I ordered.

"From what year?" the waiter asked.

"Anything from 2000 and France," I replied.

"Yes sir, please wait a moment," the waiter said as he also took our orders.

"Sorry, we're late!" Alice apologized as she barged into the room, followed by Andre.

"It's fine, we've just started-"

Before I could finish my sentence, Atlas suddenly rushed into the room with Lindsey right behind him.

"Sorry, we're late!" Atlas apologized.

"Uh... It's fine..." I muttered, annoyed by the fact that my sentence was cut off.

"Have you guys ordered yet?" Lindsey asked as a waiter helped her get seated.

"Just about to before the four of you barged in," I grumbled. "By the way, have any of you seen Joseph?"

"He's enjoying some private time..." Andre replied with a smile.

"Where's Daniel?" Alice asked.

"Asleep in our room."

"Did you do anything weird to him?" Alice teased.

"No, I'm not gay."

"Are Max and Florence not joining us?" Andre said.

"Considering that they're both snipers and hard workers. Since we have a shooting range and weight room upstairs, they're probably on that floor doing shooting practice..."

"Anyways, let's enjoy our time here in Taoyuan! Cheers!" I exclaimed as I lifted my glass.

"Cheers!" 

***** "Alice are you ok?" Andre asked worryingly as she wobbled down the hallway.

"I think I drank too much wine..." Alice groaned as she leaned on him.

"We drank too much..." I grumbled.

"Where's Ruri and Alex?" Andre asked.

"They still at the restaurant," I answered. "I'm calling service to have them bring those two back."

"And what about Lindsey and Atlas?" Andre questioned.

"Well, I'll have someone go find them," I grunted as my eyes blurred a bit from the alcohol. "Urgh, I'm gonna pass out soon..."

"Andre, where are we?" Alice mumbled.

"We're almost there, just hang on for a bit," Andre replied.

"Well, good night Andre, I've already called some hotel staff to help," I said.

"See you tomorrow, I hope," Andre replied.

"Let's hope for the best," I chuckled as I entered my room. I looked at the bedroom, the door was still opened and it was dark inside.

"He's still sleeping huh, probably going to wake up in the middle of the night," I sighed. I took off my clothes and walked into the luxurious bathroom.

"Bathing time," I murmured. I filled the bathtub with hot water while taking a quick shower first.

"Hey Luca, do you have food?" Daniel asked as he peered into the bathroom just as I exited the showers.

"You can just call room service," I replied. "Plus, I'm taking a shower, can't I just get some private time?"

"No problem," Daniel replied but added, "I'm not sleeping till three in the morning!"

"Urgh..." I wailed as I submerged myself in the water. "Tonight's gonna be tough..."


	6. Chapter 6 - Memories (Morning)

***** I woke up to the sunlight that found its way past the curtains and onto me. I turned to see Daniel next to me, still happily asleep.

"Morning," I murmured, and suddenly realized where we were. "Hey!"

"Wat..." Daniel murmured, "It's so cozy..."

"Wake up, and why are you in my bed?" I exclaimed as I prodded his face with my finger.

"Urgh..." Daniel whined.

"Let's get ready," I sighed. "And please, sleep in your bed. It's there for a reason..."

A few minutes later, the two of us appeared out of the room with all our gear, just to see an empty hallway.

"Where is everyone?" I muttered as I checked my watch, 7:38.

"Wanna go get breakfast?" I asked Daniel.

"Should we bring our gear with us?" he asked as we walked towards the elevator.

"Why not," I replied with a shrug as we entered the elevator. "I'm going to have room service call all of their rooms to wake them up.

"Western or Eastern?" I asked Daniel as we exited the lift.

"Western," he replied as we drifted towards a restaurant.

"Two people," I told the waiter and showed him our passes.

"Private room?" the waiter asked.

"Nah, we'll be fine," Daniel replied.

"Follow me please," the waiter stated as we entered the restaurant.

"Hey, isn't that Phoenicia?" Daniel squeaked, pointing at a girl, who was sitting a few tables away.

"What? Why is she here?" I exclaimed. Phoenicia, a short and cute girl, is a specialized defensive spell-caster who holds a rank in the 200s. Decent enough to receive some extra treatment, but not enough to gain you a week at a five-star hotel.

"That's Yuuna right next to her, right?" I added. Yuuna, a friend of Phoenicia, is a specialized offensive spell-caster whose rank is also in the 200s. She is Phoenicia's Squad Partner, and they make a very efficient pair on the battlefield from some of the reports I've seen.

"Phoenicia!" Daniel exclaimed.

"Daniel!" Phoenicia squeaked as she turned around to greet us and receiving a tight hug from Daniel. I forgot to mention, but Phoenicia is Daniel's girlfriend, who have been dating each other for a few months. I've gotta say, Daniel and Phoenicia are one hell of a pair; too bad her rank isn't high enough to be included in the Alpha Squad.

"Hey, I think we'll just sit with them," I told the waiter.

"Of course," the waiter replied.

"Morning, good to see you," Yuuna said as she sipped on her coffee.

"Same here," I grunted as I sat down next to her. "By the way, why are you guys here?"

"We spent some money to upgrade our original room to one in this hotel," Yuuna replied. "The rooms that were offered to us weren't all that bad, but the compounds that we lived in were pretty old, so Phoenicia and I decided to get upgraded to here."

"I see..." I mumbled.

"I'll give these two cute couples some time to decide on what to eat," the waiter said with a smile as he left us with the menus.

"We're not a couple," I muttered.

"Those two, however..." Yuuna grumbled, staring at Daniel and Phoenicia, who were already happily chatting away.

"Let's just leave them alone," I grunted.

"Agreed."

"Did you two ordered already?"

"Not yet."

"I'll have pancakes. Order whatever you want, it's on me," I told her. Turning to Daniel and Phoenicia, I interrupted the pair, "Hey, pick what you want to eat, I'm paying."

"Thanks!" Daniel squeaked as he stared at the menu. "Can I get an omelet?"

"I'll get an egg benedict," Phoenicia added.

"Guess we're ready for order," I said.

"Excuse me, but can we order now?" Yuuna asked, waving at the waiter.

"What would these two couples want?" the waiter asked as he approached us.

"Like I said, we're not a couple," I grumbled.

"Buttermilk pancakes for two," she replied.

"And an omelet and an egg benedict," I added.

"Can we also have a jug of orange juice?" Daniel asked.

"Of course, the food will be here in just a moment," the waiter answered. Immediately after finishing their orders, Phoenicia and Daniel quickly chattered away.

"Urgh... Why am I the only one on Alpha Squad that is single..." I groaned.

"Maybe if you looked more handsome," Yuuna teased.

"Just because you know me since childhood doesn't give you the right to say that," I grumbled. Yuuna and I go a long way back, probably since we were born. Our parents were best friends since their high school years and had bought their houses next to one another. I knew Yuuna since the moment I could remember, and she had been with me since then.

"Ever considered plastic surgery?" Yuuna asked.

"Can you not..." I whined. "You don't have a boyfriend either."

"You know I prefer being single," she shot back.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, there goes your excuses," I grumbled.

"Hey, don't give me that attitude!" she squeaked. As the two of us jibbered at each other, the waiter soon showed up with our meals.

"Here are your courses, please enjoy!" the waiter said as he handed us our food.

"Yuuna, how are you and Phoenicia gonna get back to base?" I asked.

"By car," she replied. "Spell-casters have a late start, so we can take our time."

"I see..." I murmured. Turning to Daniel, I ordered, "Let's finish this quickly and go to the rooftop, it's almost time."

As I started to dig in on my fluffy pancakes, someone quickly scolded me.

"Hey, manners!" Yuuna exclaimed.

"Are you my older sister or something?" I grumbled.

***** "Did you guys have breakfast?" I asked as we walked towards the Skyhawk.

"Sorta, I think most of us used room service," Alice replied as her voice almost got drowned by the engine sounds of the D85T.

"Morning!" I yelled at the loadmaster, who gave me a thumbs-up.

"We're ready to take off when you're ready!" the loadmaster told me as he and his crew carried our equipment onto the transport.

"It's ok, we'll do it by ourselves," I heard Max said.

"You two are careful as usual huh?" the loadmaster chuckled.

"You and Florence are such a pair," Atlas commented.

"We are a pair," the two answered in unison.

"This is Alpha-One, we are ready for takeoff, heading for Rendezvous Point Zulu 110, ETA 15 minutes," the pilot yelled as the Skyhawk slowly lifted up with its two engines at full thrust.

"We have 15 minutes to talk about what happened yesterday," I said.

"I think we both died in the restaurant and magically revived and teleported to our room," Alex remarked, with Ruri nodding in agreement.

"Thank the staff," I said.

"What about you Andre?" Daniel asked.

"She's cute when she's drunk," Andre teased.

"Hey, don't tell them that!" Alice wailed in embarrassment.

"What did you do yesterday Max?" I asked.

"Practiced shooting and CQC moves with Florence and went downstairs to eat a quick meal."

"Aw, I was expecting something more interesting, but apparently, nothing positive happened," Lindsey sighed in disappointment. However, Max winked at the guys, and we immediately get what he was trying to say.

"Nice..." I murmured.

"Joseph, what did you do to Emilia while we were eating dinner?" Daniel asked.

"Well..." Joseph stammered and he leaned on Emilia, "some stuff?"

"OK that explains everything, I'm not gonna ask about the details," I said.

"Anyone else had something remarkable happen?" Andre asked.

"Oh well, oh well," I murmured.

"What about Lucania, did anything happen to you?" Joseph asked.

"Well, I had a nice night, other than the fact that Daniel kept me up till two in the morning," I grumbled.

"Aren't you going to mention the other thing?" Atlas asked.

"No," I replied. "Let's just forget what happened."

"Sir, we're ready for landing, please get your things ready and have a great day!" the pilot's voice came from the cockpit.

"Thanks for the ride," I replied.

"Anytime sir!" he answered. As our transport landed in the middle of a grassy field, I realized that we were surrounded by many other pieces of equipment that were already placed inside tents.

"We are just on time," I stated as I saw David and Karen walking towards us.

"Are we training with the students?" Ruri asked.

"Well, you guys are actually on time, I'll give you guys that. However, the students and soldiers are already beginning their training exercises. This means that there are two options, join them or start your own training," Karen explained.

"What training are they engaged in right now?" I asked.

"There are a few different activities that are currently going on. Most of the soldiers are currently engaging in multiple battle simulations in capture the flag game mode," David answered. "Do you guys want to start your own match?"

"Nah, this event is supposed to encompass everyone, so we'll join their games," I replied.

"How are we going to join their games though?" Daniel asked. I gave him a smug look and took out a data-pad.

"This game mode isn't just all about capturing the enemy's flag, you can also win if you eliminate the whole enemy force. This meant that there are bonus drops scattered around the map or can be earned through your score. There are bombing runs, armor upgrade, jetpacks, and mysteries. I'm gonna put us into the mystery pile and let them pick us," I said with a laugh.

"Why does Lucania look like he just thought of some evil idea?" Alice asked Lindsey.

"He's just being an idiot," Lindsey replied, "but I guess this idea isn't that bad."

"Is this a paintball or freezer round?" I asked as I inserted our names into the options.

"Freezer round, this means that designated medics can revive others in a certain amount of time," David replied. "You better get going, a lot of them are almost at the bonuses."

"Good luck guys," I stated as we strapped our weapons on.

"How are we going to get deployed onto the maps?" Alex asked.

"That," Karen answered as she pointed at what seems to be a large box.

"Huh?" Alex asked.

"You'll see," David assured us and forced us in. The inside of this object was dark, but there were a few dim lights that displayed an array of drop-pods on both sides of the aisle.

"I think this is going airborne," I muttered. Just as I finished my sentence, the box shook and slowly lifted airborne. Before we could react, the box accelerated, throwing us into the walls as we tried to grab onto something. After a few seconds that seemed like hours, it suddenly slowed down, dropping us back onto the floor.

"What the hell was that for?" I groaned.

"Sorry, had to get it into the atmosphere," David said through the COMs.

"What?" Daniel exclaimed. "How is that even possible?"

"Yup, now get into those pods so you guys can be deployed," Karen ordered.

"God damn it, I think I broke something," Ruri groaned as she strapped herself into one of the pods. Before she could say anything else, the pod's lights went green and the pod was released.

"Eek!" Ruri wailed as her pod disappeared.

"Holy shit! Did she just get deployed?" I exclaimed.

"Yup, now a lot of our students are gonna choose the mysteries because I told them before that something interesting might be in there," David said with a hint of laughter.

"You gotta be kidding me," Alex groaned, "David you piece of..."

Before he could finish his sentence, his pod went green and was deployed.

"This is tense," I muttered. As things seemed to calm down, two pods went green and Alice and Daniel dropped out of the box and down through the atmosphere.

"Shit..." Joseph groaned.

"I hope lucks on my side," I stated. Just as I finished my sentence, the lights on my pod went green. Before I even had the chance to say, 'you gotta be kidding me', the pod was released from the box and into Earth's atmosphere. Through the small window on the drop-pod, I could only see red and flames as the pod travels down towards the ground at Mach 25.

"I'm gonna pass out," I growled as my vision started to blur, but the flames started to ease off and the vibration decreased as the pod seems to have passed through the atmosphere.

"I hope there's a parachute," I muttered as the pod plummets down towards Earth's surface.


	7. Chapter 7 - Memories (Simulation Combat)

Corporal Jacob Wang (Rank 2854)

***** "This is Delta Squad, we've secured a bonus code but are under heavy fire. I repeat, we are under heavy fire!" I yelled.

"Affirmative, can you see what options are in the code?" the command coordinator asked.

"Jake, Adam, cover me!" I ordered as I ducked behind cover to look at the code.

"Those enemies have a lot of heavy artillery!" Jake wailed as a freezer round exploded near his shoulder, forcing him to hide back down. "Shit!"

"You ok?" I asked, ignoring the coordinator's calls.

"It's completely numb," Jake groaned, "I'll be fine..."

"Ester, I need some more output!" Adam exclaimed to his squad mate.

"Grenade out!" Ester answered.

"Corporal, what do you see?" the coordinator asked.

"Umm, there are three options: mystery, bombing run, or medic pack," I replied.

"Perfect, use the bombing run and enter the coordinates that I tell you," the coordinator said with relief. "The coordinates are 25°04'06.1"N 121°18'27.2"E."

"Isn't that our position?" I asked. "Our forces are scattered in this area in close quarters with enemy forces. There's gonna be a lot of friendly fire if you drop bombs here."

"God damn it, those are the command's orders," the coordinator replied.

"Jacob, we're gonna have to retreat! Our squad isn't going to hold this position for long!" Adam exclaimed as we were pelted by enemy fire.

"You know what, I'm gonna try this..." I muttered as I pressed the mystery choice.

"Soldier, did you just disobey the commanders' orders?" the coordinator asked. Before I could answer, the Comms became static and were completely down.

"The enemies got a jammer up!" Jake stated.

"Where's that god damn mystery bonus?" Adam asked.

"Look!" Jake exclaimed as he pointed upwards. I looked up to see an object falling towards the ground.

"Is that a drop pod?" I muttered.

"Let's hope it's something useful," Adam muttered as we moved out of our position to retreat and move out of the landing zone.

***** " _Drop pod has touched down on the designated area. Please exit when ready."_

"What?" I muttered in confusion as my vision slowly came back to me. I heard people shouting outside and artillery shells landing around me, so I tried to look outside through the pod's window. Before I could see anything, freezer rounds hit but unable to penetrate the window, causing a layer of hardened paint to form.

"I guess I'll have to open this," I sighed as I readied my gear, located on the sides of the pod. As I prepared myself, I could hear the movement of troops surrounding the pod.

"Is the Comms working?" I asked as I accessed my team's Comms.

"Is this transmitted from the pod?" a voice asked.

"Good, at least there's a response," I muttered, "I'm the guy you just deployed, who are you?"

"Corporal Jacob Wang. If you have a HUD, we should be displayed with green markers, enemies will be displayed with red. Our forces have retreated from your position, but only about twenty meters," the voice replied. HUD, or the heads-up display located across our helmet, is standard equipment for a soldier. The HUD displays things from friendlies and enemies to the user's current terrain and will be able to provide the user with more information using upgrades from the school's R and D Department.

"Are there enemies outside?" I asked.

"Affirmative, they're currently surrounding the pod," Jacob replied.

"Got it, give me a sec," I muttered and took a large breath.

"We'll get to you in a sec, just hang tight!" Jacob exclaimed.

"No need," I snickered and kicked open the door. The bright sunlight burst in, but the glare didn't affect me due to the helmet that I was wearing. I leaped out of the pod, opening fire enemies marked on my HUD with my duel MA5Ds. Freezer rounds, also known as TTR, or Tactical Training Rounds, are used to simulate live fire. The rounds' outer coating dissolves when it comes into contact with a surface, thus resulting in the splatter of paint held inside the rounds. The paint contains a powerful anesthetic and immobilizes the armor or nano-fibers inside clothing, causing it to harden. This immobilization stimulates gun wounds and can sometimes paralyze a person completely if enough rounds were hit on different body places. To recover from the immobilization, nano-cleaners that are equipped on designated medics are able to dissolve the paint, freeing the occupant. However, if the occupant's head is hit by TTRs, then he is declared as dead to simulate real-life situations.

"This is gonna be fun," I murmured, reloading as two new magazines pop out around my waist's armor belt. As the enemies finally regained their focus and tried to shoot at me, I started to dash around their ranks, planting multiple shots into each of them. A few freezer rounds hit my armor, but my advance combat armor was able to mitigate most of the effects. The enemy forces located in the back shuffled and started to retreat, leaving its frontal forces unsupported, meaning that our defensive forces were able to wipe them out. In a matter of minutes, the enemy's attacking force was retreating, relinquishing massive ground for us to take back.

"That was fun," I murmured as I reloaded my weapons and poured more mana into the armor and weapons to continue to boost its abilities.

"Isn't that the Alpha Squad's commander?" Adam asked.

"I'm pretty sure he just wiped out a company of them," Jacob muttered.

"They're just unconscious, an extraction team will carry them back to HQ," I stated as I turned to face my team. "Can anyone explain the situation to me?"

"Yes sir, you are currently with the left flank attack force. We were originally pushing towards the enemy's base but encountered heavy enemy resistances, so it became the defensive flank, as the right flank seems to be the one pushing," a student explained.

"Who is that?" I asked.

"Hey, I'm Joy," the student exclaimed as she took off her helmet.

"Ah, I can't tell who was inside the armor," I apologized.

"At Rank 104, she is the highest-ranking NCA member on this flank," Jacob reported.

"What about the SUA's commander?" I asked.

"None. But it's this Lieutenant Colonel called Abram King for the other flank," Joy answered and turned to her soldiers. "We're gonna start pushing on this flank too! We'll wait till the SUA rejoins us and attack simultaneously."

"This is King. Joy, you good?" a voice asked through the Comms.

"Yeah man, it's all good here."

"Joy, you know him?"

"An old friend," Joy answered. Turning to the rest of the students she yelled, "They're clear, let's get moving!"

"We're gonna push all the way to the flag, and get it before the SUA," I declared.

"Yes sir!" the company replied in unison.

"Hey, that was a game-changer," Adam whispered.

"I know right? Jacob, you really saved our ass," Jake added.

"But hey, he's probably getting all the glory back at HQ for whoever's watching," a student muttered. "It's just not fair."

"Sigh, our rankings are on completely different levels," Adam groaned.

"I know right, if you say Joy is one of the strongest, I wouldn't have a problem because she's not that disgustingly strong. Look at those on the Alpha Team, they probably aren't even human!" Jake exclaimed, but just a bit too loud.

"What did you say?" I asked the Rank 3021 student.

"Nothing," Jake muttered.

"Huh, speak louder," I growled.

"I said, you aren't human!" Jake shouted.

"Yeah, you guys are probably robots or aliens!" another added.

"Guys, can we not?" Joy asked.

"Shut up, you don't understand how we low-rank students feel because you're Rank 104! You can get so many gadgets and luxuries while we sometimes barely survive after paying rents and stuff. This system is just unfair, especially when the Alpha Team gets so many luxuries and access when they're just students like us!" a student exclaimed.

"Guys, this is not the time. We've got a flank to push," I growled.

"I don't care, what do we get if we win?" Jake asked.

"You do realize there's prize money for grab if you win, right?" Joy asked.

"Yeah, and most of it goes to that alien?" Jake growled.

"You do realize I'm just supporting right, I don't count as a player," I stated, "no money for me even I'm the one carrying it. And to be honest, I don't need it."

"Got anything to say?" Joy asked. The students remained silent, so silent that we could clearly hear the gunfire on the other flank. Before anyone could say a thing, a voice blasted through my personal Comms, "You know, your company looks really tasty, so tasty that I want to finish them off right now."

"The hell?" I muttered.

"What is it?" Joy asked.

"I think someone hijacked my Comms," I replied. I scanned the area ahead for enemies but didn't pick up anything. However, just as our company was about to march forward, I spotted a glare that appeared in the far distance.

"Ah shit, get down!" I ordered. But before most of my company could move, a student was hit in the head, the impact sent him flying backward into a fellow student.

"Man down!" Joy yelled as the company dug in and took cover.

"You shouldn't be worried about sniper fire right now," the voice stated.

"What?" I asked in confusion. However, I realized what he meant when a deep rumbling sound wavered through the air.

"Incoming airstrike!" I yelled as four SUA B-5 Strikers broke their cover in the clouds. As the company scattered to get out of the blast zone, the Strikers dived down towards the surface, ready to release their payloads. By the time they released their bombs, I was able to see the pilot in one of the bombers, and all hell broke loose. Without any anti-air or air cover, the bombers were able to drop their payloads accurately on our positions. The bombs, containing the same substance in TTRs, froze large areas at its point of detonation. With paint flying everywhere, I decided to activate a personal shield using one of my mana storages, which looked like a soda can, except that it releases mana previously stored into them when you activate them. Within a matter of seconds, our company was reduced to nothing, with most of the students knocked unconscious by the blasts and are out of the game.

"Bloody hell," I muttered when the bombers left.

"That was exciting, I hope you're still alive," the voice suddenly stated.

"Who the hell are you?" I asked.

"Hey that's rude, remember, you aren't the only Alpha Squad member here," the voice said. "If you are alive, you should prepare yourself, we've got a company of soldiers coming."

"Atlas..." I growled.

"It's not only me, Florence's here too," Atlas said with a chuckle, "wanna say hi to her?"

Again, a glare appeared in the far distance just as he finishes speaking. Although I immediately dived towards the left behind a freeze blast, I could still feel the 12.7X99m NATO round of Evelyn's Anti-Material Sniper Rifle System 102 Series 3 whizzing pass me.

"Well, at least that's better than having both Florence and Max here..." I grumbled.

"Damn, I missed," Florence's voice cracked through the Comms.

"No worries, we've got a company of men going down there," Atlas assured her and muttered, "damn, forgot to turn of the Comms."

The Comms soon broke and I no longer could hear the enemies' Comm chatter.

"All Blue Team forces on the left flank, is anyone still alive?" I broadcasted.

"What the hell happened?" King asked.

"We got ambushed by a bombing run," I muttered.

"Any survivors?" King asked.

"I don't know, it'll be none soon since they're sending a company to wipe out the remainders. If there are any survivors in the first place," I muttered. "We've got two companies back on the point defending. If I have to guess, there's only one more company defending the enemy's flag right now. You guys have to push now, I'll try to hold them off until more reinforcements come."

"Roger that," King replied.

"I really need reinforcements," I murmured. "How many bonus codes are on the field?"

"There should be twelve in total. It's scattered randomly on the map, so we don't know the exact locations. There should be a counter on your HUD that shows you how many are left," King explained. "We've collected four and there's three left, which means that the enemy team's gotten five of them."

"I know one was used on a bombing run and two are on Alpha members," I stated. "Did you encounter bombing or shelling?"

"Negative, which means that there holding on their aces," King analyzed. "We've pushed this side's forces back to their base. I can see the flag!"

"Hell yes, let's capture it and go home!" I murmured. I slowly took a peek out from my cover, hoping that Evelyn's not sniping anymore, but a bullet whizzed over my head.

"Shit, I hope the other side's doing well," I muttered. However, the Comms suddenly erupted with chaos from both the right flank and command.

"Shit, what the hell is that?" a voice asked.

"That's a fucking large tank!" another yelled.

"Calm down, explain the situation," a coordinator stated.

"The Red Team's got this massive walker that hold multiple cannons! We're getting pushed back, get to cover! URGH!" a voice reported before being terminated.

"Shit, this is Lieutenant Colonel Abram King! We are under heavy fire and request additional forces!" King pleaded.

"This is Command, we'll send our two companies to King. Commander Lee, you'll have to hold that flank by yourself," a voice stated.

"Urgh, idiots," I muttered as I turned off the Comms, as there was too many screaming going on. For a while, I replenished my mana and activated a shield to prevent Evelyn from taking me out with her first shot. I used another mana storage to activate my camouflage ability and slowly left my cover. Without anything blocking my view, I could easily see the Red Team's assaulting company already approaching my position. The leading soldier saw a survivor from the blast, turned, and shot him in the head twice. They then stumbled across another person, but this time, instead of shooting that person on sight, the soldier loomed over and picked the Blue Team soldier up, putting his hand around the soldier's throat.

"Shit," I muttered as I approached closer towards them.

"Look who we've found," the soldier said.

"Ah! We've got a top 200 here," another exclaimed as he took off the soldier's helmet, revealing an injured Joy.

"Rank 104, Joy Chou, I think I've seen you," the soldier snickered.

"Go to hell," Joy growled and spat on the student's face.

"You bitch!" the student snarled and threw her on the ground.

"What are you kids doing, just eliminate her," an SUA soldier ordered.

"Come on, we wanna have some fun," the student objected.

"Whatever, just catch up with the group," the soldier stated and the company marched on, leaving a few NCA students behind with Joy. As the Red Team's company marched pass my location, I could hear the commanding soldier muttering with his companion.

"Those low-level twats," he growled. "At least show respect to your opponents."

"Well, they're brats," the other replied.

"Still, I find it to be ironic that it's the low levels that show that behavior. The higher ranks are more disciplined and respectful towards their opponents, even though I can see some dissidents and annoyance coming from them when they work with us."

"Like I said, they're brats."

When the company marched a couple hundred meters pass my location, I moved towards Joy's position, who was already stripped from her armor and getting abused by the students.

"Hah, now you understand how we feel!" a student exclaimed as he kicked Joy in the stomach and took off his own helmet. The other four followed him and took off their helmets, which were supposed to protect them from TTR blasts.

"Bloody hell," I muttered as I deactivated my camouflage. "Hey, you! Respect your seniors!"

"Who the hell's there!" a student yelled as he pointed the rifle at my direction. "Shit, it's an Alpha Squad member!"

The students stopped what they were doing and opened fire at me, but nothing came out.

"What the heck, this shit gun!" the student snarled and threw his gun at the ground.

"You shouldn't treat your gun like that," I growled.

"Don't move, I'll shoot!' the student stammered as he picked up his gun and pressed the trigger, nothing came out.

"Geez, low-levels give me cancer," I muttered as I grabbed the gun out of the student's hands, unlocked the safety and planted two shots into the guy's stomach, knocking him backward. The other four followed their predecessor and ended up on the ground, immobilized.

"Joy, you injured?" I asked as I rushed to aid her.

"I think I've got internal bleeding," Joy muttered as she coughed out some blood.

"Shit, I'm gonna have you sit this out," I stated and took out an emergency medical flare.

"Come on, I can still fight!" Joy protested. I rolled my eyes and lighted the flare. Immediately, a D-80T medical craft appeared out of the clouds and landed near us.

"Do you need any assistance?" a medic asked as his team rushed out.

"Yeah, this girl has some serious injury," I reported.

"Roger, she'll be in good care," the medic assured me as his men took Joy away on a stretcher.

"You gotta win!" Joy exclaimed before entering the Skyhawk.

"Yah, yah, I've got bigger problems," I muttered. As the Skyhawk took off, I turned to face the immobilized students.

"What are you going to do?" one of them asked.

"An eye for an eye," I muttered and pointed my G36's barrel at one of their faces.

"That's a violation of a game rule!" the student whimpered.

"Hey, you broke it first, I'm just enforcing the game," I growled and fired. The Tactical Training Round burst open, splattering paint onto the students face and harden on impact.

"Don't worry, you should still be able to breathe, not that you'll be conscious as I'm speaking," I sneered and moved on to the others.

"No, please don't!" one of them begged. I fired my weapon at point-blank-range twice, completely knocking him out. The other three were in disarray, one peed in his pants and started to cry, another fainted, and one tried to reach his emergency enforcer button, which is used when your opponents violated rules and you have a risk of dying. I finished them off with three shots.

"That should do it," I muttered and reloaded my weapon.

"Hey, you shouldn't forget about us."

As I heard the voice through my Comms, a shockwave struck my back, sending me flying into the ground.

"Shit!" I snarled in pain as I hit the ground. Anticipating another shot, I quickly flatten myself and rolled towards the nearest cover I could find. "That was too close..."

Knowing that Florence is probably still aiming at my location, I patiently waited behind my cover to force the enemy sniper to give up. After what seemed like an eternity, I felt that it was safe enough for me to leave my hiding spot. However, just as I emerge from my cover, a shot suddenly hit me right me the face, blinding my helmet.

"God damn it, I should've known," I muttered as I waited to be extracted. "She never gives up on her targets, does she?"


	8. Chapter 8 - Memories (Ambush!)

***** In the end, we lost the match as we were outnumbered and outgunned. The Red Team acquired a few more bonus codes and utterly destroyed our base. I don't mind losing, considering I was busy teaching the five students a lesson.

"You mad?" Atlas asked as the boys of the Alpha Squad sat together during the break.

"No, I'm mad at those five students," I growled.

"I hope Joy's ok," Daniel murmured.

"Don't worry, her conditions are stable and the docs found the internal bleeding spot," Samantha reported. "Although I don't agree with what you did to the students, you did the right thing. They are currently detained and will be punished."

"To be honest, it was still fun," I murmured.

"Oh my god, it was such a fun game with Alex," Daniel exclaimed. "We wiped out three companies when we only had one company left and we captured the flag!"

"Great, but we're not done here," David stated as he appeared behind us. "You guys have to meet with the commanders of the SUA."

"Joseph, Max, Daniel, you guys come with me," I ordered. "David and Karen, you two will follow too."

"You ready to meet the SUA commanders?" David asked.

"Anytime," I replied as I entered the briefing room. Once inside the room, the noisy chatter between the SUA generals quickly silenced, and the seven of us were met by five pairs of ice-cold eyes staring towards us.

"Hi guys, I think you should know all four of us," Daniel stated, breaking the awkward silence inside the room. "These two are David and Karen, they are our secretaries or some sort."

"I'm General Nelson," one of the leaders replied in an edged voice. "and they are Vice Admiral Parker, Vice Admiral Vandenburg, General Oscar, and Commander Linda respectively."

"Anyways, this exercise is beneficial for both sides; you people would get your midterms done, and we get to test out our new weapons," General Oscar explained.

"Weapons? What are you guys testing now?" Daniel questioned.

"Laser pulse cannons and gravitational beams," Commander Linda replied.

"Those are hard-hitting weapons..." Joseph muttered.

"We're testing out weapons too," David said.

"Really, what are they?" General Nelson asked eagerly.

"You guys really want to use magic too, right?" I asked.

"Of course we do," the general replied.

"Well, have fun trying to achieve your goals," I teased.

"Anyways, we're just testing out a new type of firing system and inside our weapons and ammunition," Karen reported.

"By the way," General Nelson interrupted. "Did you guys find out whether an Unknown attack is mounting off in the Taiwan Strait? Our sensors show that there's no chance of an Unknown attack, what about you guys?"

"Same here, we aren't expecting any problems other than small scouting squadrons," David replied confidently. Suddenly, the screeching sound of an alert was echoed through our ears.

" _EMERGENCY, EMERGENCY, MULTIPLE SIGNATURES OF UNKNOWNS ARE APPEARING! THIS IS NOT A DRILL. I REPEAT, THIS IS NOT A DRILL!_ "

"An attack!" Vice Admiral Parker exclaimed.

"Urgh, we jinxed it!" Daniel wailed.

"Guy's we're redeploying!" I told my team.

"David and Karen you two go to the camp, to muster some defense. You generals should deploy some troops and a shield here. This is our HQ, and it can't fall," I said.

"First time in my life that I'm agreeing with a Northerner," Vice Admiral Vandenburg grumbled sarcastically as people all around the camp hustled towards their designated positions.

"Let's get moving!" Max shouted.

"What are the main defense points?" I asked.

"The harbor, airport, and an HSR line," Joseph replied.

"Very well, we'll have the coordinators stay here. Andre, Ruri, Florence, and Atlas will be at the harbor. Alice, Daniel, Alex, and Max will be defending the harbor and airport should have most of our forces. Those two are the most important strongholds we have for transportation. If we lose them, our trade system basically collapses, since we don't have another port and airport that operate at the same magnitude as these two," I ordered.

"What about you?" Daniel asked.

"I'll be at the HSR line myself. It shouldn't require that much defense since it's the most inland target," I replied.

"We've got our game plan ready, now let's get moving!" Andre shouted.

"Are our transports ready?" I asked.

"We've got five Skyhawks fueled and ready to roll," Lindsey replied.

"There are also some other people, so you won't be lonely," Emilia joked.

"Let's come back alive guys," I said grimly.

"Whoever has the lowest kill score buys the group drinks!" Daniel exclaimed.

"Let's do this!"

I took out a data-pad from my armor pack and checked the designated flights. Found it, Charlie-Five, a Skyhawk heading for the HSR line. When I arrived at the transport, there were a dozen or so Southern troops in our transport, and their armor displayed themselves as Spec Ops. I entered the hanger bay and nodded to them, they nodded back. Mutual respect, that's what we need on the battlefield when we have a common enemy.

"This is Charlie-Five, we are clear for takeoff," the pilot said to command.

"Roger that Charlie-Five, you are good to go," Joseph answered through the Comms. The Skyhawk slowly took off and headed towards Highway 3.

"Lindsey, can you give me a briefing on the troops status on Highway 3?" I asked through a private Comms channel.

"We have around five hundred people deployed there. The SUA has an estimated eight hundred there, but they also have some heavy machinery, so there's around an additional four hundred mechanical personnel. The NCA has a total of around four thousand people deployed here in Taoyuan: a thousand two hundred each for the harbor and airport; six hundred at the HSR line, and five hundred on each highway. The SUA has about six thousand people deployed here, but about a thousand are mechanical personnel," Lindsey reported.

"Heavy machinery as in?"

"Their prototype weapons, laser pulse cannons and gravitational beams."

"Roger that," I told Lindsey and asked the pilot, "Are we there yet?"

"ETA in three minutes. This is a drop-and-go run; please get ready to jump," the pilot replied.

"Why a drop and go run?" I asked

"The airspace sector seems to be under Unknown control, completely denying any entry from us," he replied.

"Affirmative," I answered. In the transport compartment, I could hear the SUA Spec Ops performing their gear check.

"Mate, can you check my gear?" I asked the nearest Spec Op. The man swiftly nodded and checked for any openings in my armor.

"You're good," he grunted.

"Thanks," I replied.

"We've arrived at the drop zone, lights are green!" The pilot yelled. The Spec Ops jumped immediately out from the back, leaving me behind.

"Thanks for the ride mate!" I yelled at the pilot.

"Anytime sir," he replied. I grabbed stuck my personalized BR-66 rifle on a rifle click on my back and jumped off the transport.

"Damn it's high..." I muttered to myself. As I descended through the air, the sun stood high as its lights blazed down on my armor. I immediately entered the clouds, the chilling weather easily penetrated the thin body armor on me. After getting through the cloud layer, it became worst. From the sky, I could see bullet sprays everywhere on the ground.

"Holy shit, we've got incoming at Highway 3!" I yelled through the Comms; static. "Lindsey, can you still hear me?"

"..."

Static.

"Shit, Comms are down," I grumbled. "They've got a pretty advanced jammer here."

Don't they appear only in large-scale battles though? I thought to myself. I quickly shook off that thought, if that's true, then we really got a big problem on our hands for just a simple defense task. As I landed with a surge of anti-gravitational magic, the area was in complete chaos. Soldiers from the SUA and the NCA have scattered around, most protecting the high-valued cannons, but there were many squadrons trapped in their positions by heavy fire from the Unknowns. I ran towards a group of NCA students and asked, "Who's the commander here?"

"He's dead, both the SUA and NCA commanders are dead!" one of them stammered.

"What the hell happened?" I questioned.

"I don't know, we were just patrolling the area and doing some drills when they suddenly ambushed us! I thought they would only spawn from the sea!" the student replied.

"Shit, where's the highest ranked personnel here?" I pestered.

"I don't know, maybe you'll find them near the cannons," the student stuttered.

"I'll give you cover fire, you guys retreat!" I told all of them. I took out my BR66 battle rifle and poke my head around the covering and fired. The three-round burst weapon is my favorite, and as the group of students ran towards the cannons, my bursts hit the targets dead on center. When the group covered enough distance, I stopped firing and ran as well, deploying a side shield for myself.

"Who's in charge here?" I asked an SUA soldier.

"It Captain Jack, the Colonels were killed in the initial surprise attacks."

I thanked him and ran towards a group of people that seemed to be arguing.

"Are you guys in charge?" I asked.

"Yes, now hurry up and defend these cannons, soldiers!" a soldier growled as he frantically fired his ground-mounted heavy machine gun.

"Wait a sec, aren't you a part of the Aces?" the captain asked.

"Good spot," I praised. "I now in command; captain, evacuate all non-combatants!"

"Who says you're in charge?" one of the soldiers challenged.

"Unless you have experience leading an entire army, then please listen" I replied coldly.

"Tch, but I'm staying here to defend the cannons," the soldier grumbled.

"Do whatever you like," I growled. "Captain Jack, rally your most troops to this position, now called Point A. I want the mechanical personnel to come too, they can fight. My troops will rally at Point B, left flank and a bit in front of Point A. The rest of your troops will be deployed to Point C, parallel to Point B. Point A will start pushing the enemies' frontline while Point B and C will flank them and try to create a blockade until Point A arrives."

"The enemies seem to have anti-air batteries providing aerial denial, we'll have to deal with those if we want reinforcements," the captain observed.

"That's not our main problem," I growled. "We need to rally and regroup, find out the enemies' chain-of-command, and strike where it hurts the most: their forward operating base."

"Roger that," Captain Jack replied as I departed to find the NCA's region commander.

"Sir we've lost multiple squadrons in the initial ambush!" the commander of the NCA battalion told me when I arrived at Point B.

"What's your name and rank?" I asked.

"Captain Bill Saunders, Rank 224."

"Ok Bill, you probably know who I am, so I'm taking charge. At my command, we are going to push forward, but towards the left first and then flanking the enemies." I ordered.

"Roger that," Bill replied as he scurries off to herd up his troops.

"Let's see what we've got here," I said as I checked my data-pad for any particular people that I may know here. Immediately, I spotted a familiar name.

"Yuuna? Why is she here?"

"Let's get moving!" a voice suddenly shouted. It was Bill trying to get his troops, consisting of students that are quivering in fear, to move. Most of them have limited combat experience and low overall ranking, thus are deployed at the back of the field.

"You guys go, we're only people ranked in the 3000s!" one of them stammered.

"This is why I hate low-level people!" a familiar voice said.

"Ash," I growled.

"Fancy meeting you here, Number 1." he taunted.

"We're going to advance, get them moving," I said coldly.

"Yes _sir_ ," Ash sneered.

"Seriously, we need all the men we have," I growled. Ash and his friends reluctantly hustled the students hiding in fear to move. Once most of the remaining NCA soldiers are ready to go I radioed through the shared COM, "This is Point B, we are ready to go."

"This is Point C; we are ready to go too."

"Point A is ready to advance."

"Let's do this and go home," I growled. As we hear artillery starting to fire and the Unknown frontline began to concentrate fire at Point A, we started our operation. There was a hill line surrounding the Unknown forces, we went over the hills first, eliminated whatever Unknowns there was, and were now on the same side as the Unknown forces. Since most of the tanking Unknowns are at the frontline, the sides were poorly defended. The NCA's 400 men battalion easily ran through the defense and created a blockade for further reinforcements.

"Where the hell are the forces from Point C?" I asked. Then I realize everything was too good to be true. We were the lucky ones, the other side where the SUA forces were attacking was heavily guarded by supertankers and were wiping out the battalion at an alarming pace.

"Help, help me!" I heard one of the men cried as he gets sliced in half by one of the Unknowns. The hillside was littered with dead bodies of SUA troopers with their bodies sliced up or with their inner organs slowly flowing out of its original position.

"Oh shit, this is bad!" I groaned as the rest of the forces turned to face us.

"Captain Jack, are your forces advancing?" I asked through the Comms.

"Negative, we're pinned down by their artillery fire!"

"Can you call for reinforcements?" I asked.

"Negative, the Comms are still jammed, and I think the others are also facing enemy attacks too!"

"Shit! Get into defense position!" Bill ordered as we retreated back behind the hill for cover. However, most of the troops here are inexperienced and are incapable of making a useful defense position, the outside ones are picked off one by one by their Unknown counterparts.

"This is bad, we're going to be wiped out!" I growled. Suddenly, a laser beam went passed us in a flash, leaving behind a burnt surface.

"Holy shit, what the hell was that?" a student next to me asked.

"That was our laser pulse cannons, we finally got them online!" the SUA captain replied on the public Comms joyfully. The laser cannon wiped out almost all the Unknowns near this area, so we easily cleared the leftovers and regrouped with Point A's forces.

"Where are the Point C forces?" one of the soldiers asked.

"They were wiped out by the defenses before we can even regroup together."

SUA Captain Jack shook his head as others lowered their head in honor of those who died. Just as we thought we would get a break, someone defending the rear of the cannons shouted, "we've got more incoming!"

"Where!?" Bill asked.

"Behind us! They've come from underground, we need help!"

The soldier had enough time to reply before getting hacked to death by a CQC Unknown.

"Regroup! Get to the back of those cannons!" I ordered. Many squadrons of soldiers were killed just as they arrived to defend the cannons due to disadvantageous terrain towards the back and the lack of experience of those troops. Soon, I found myself on the front against the Unknowns. With the cannons and the stabilized defense and multiple squadrons behind or beside me, I was fighting like fish in water. As I led the assault pushing the Unknowns back, we arrived at a nearby forest. The Unknowns scattered into it, trying to disperse our fire.

"Sir, we don't have a line of sight on them!" Captain Jack said through the Comms.

"Send some men over and I'll give you the coordinates for the cannons," I replied.

"Squad, move forward!" a familiar voice shouted. I turned towards the voice to see Yuuna, who was leading a group of students into the forest.

"Yuuna!" I shouted, waving my hand at her.

"Luca?" she squeaked.

"What are you doing here?" I questioned as I trotted towards her.

"I was deployed here to train some new spell-casters," Yuuna replied, shaking her head. "Who would've thought this could happen?"

"Not even the leaders of both states," I said. "Do you want to partner? I would like to work with someone that I'm familiar with."

"Sure, I don't mind the extra back-up," she replied. As the two of us headed deeper into the forest, the shooting died down as we were surrounded by a suspicious silence, with the occasional crackles of branches that we stepped on.

"It's becoming really quiet here, isn't it?" I muttered.

"Just focus, I wanna go back to the hotel," Yuuna growled, looking around through her FAMAS's scope. Suddenly a laser shot whizzed through the woods and hit someone.

"Yuuna, we've got incoming!" I said. No replies.

"Yuuna?" I asked as I turned around to see her lying on the ground, with a laser mark burnt through her right chest.

"We've got casualty!" I yelled through the Comms, and all hell broke loose. Without my permission, the plasma cannons started to fire on our positions and the Unknowns started their counterattacks.

"I need a medic!" I waved at a squadron. The squadron started to move up but was torn into pieces when a cannon shell exploded on them, leaving nothing behind. I knelt there, dazed, shocked, and stunned. But it didn't last long, the growling sound of an Unknown snapped me back to real life as I turned and knifed him in the head and sliced it in half. However, just when I was about to move to give basic treatment to Yuuna, a cold hard gun barrel was pushed against my head.

"Don't move."

"You asshole, we're in a war zone."

"Too bad."

"Look around us, we're fighting the Unknowns, not between ourselves."

"I hate you, I've hated you since the first day we started training. I thought we could've been friends during our training, find common ground with our hate towards those hellish drills. However, throughout our first week, I was on the field with everyone else, training our asses off under the hot sun, just to perform some basic low-level magic moves. You, on the other hand, were standing in the shades, with you damn earphones on and drinking an ice-cold drink! And do you know what was worse? You looked at us and shook your head like we were shit! You and your damn friends always treated us like we were nothing! Well, guess what, I've got you now, and I'm going to blow her damn head off first in your eyes and then kill you!"

"Ash, go to hell."

The two of us stayed motionless while the Unknowns and our forces clashed around us. Suddenly, an Unknown charged at Ash and attacked him. It was only able to disable his shields before it was taken down by Ash. I took the chance and pulled out my pistol and growled, "Game over."

But before Ash or I could fire a bullet, I saw a beam of light headed straight towards us.

"Bloody hell," Ash muttered as he stared into the bright lights approaching towards us. I instantly activated my shields on myself and Yuuna. The light eradicated Ash in just seconds while my shields took a heavy beating.

"Shit, I'm going to run out of mana..." I growled as I winced at the extreme pain of exporting the mana to support the shield. Seconds went by like years as I was losing consciousness. Before I felt like I was going to pass out, I took out an emergency med pack and stabbed it into Yuuna's chest. As her heart began to beat again, she coughed intensively as I activated her shields and murmured, "Welcome back."

"What's happening?" Yuuna asked in confusion. But before I had time to answer anything, I passed out. 

***** "This is Evac Delta One, we've secured the commander, en route to HQ."

"Roger that, we've got an emergency medical team ready."

"Blood pressures dropping, increasing dose of morphine. Where is he bleeding from?"

"We've got multiple internal injuries."

"Increase his oxygen supply. Do we have any surgeons here?"

"Negative. We'll have to wait till we're back to base."

"How is his situation?"

"Bad, he used up all his mana to build a shield; he's probably going to die."

"What are the chances?"

"To be honest he's only got a 20% chance of living."

"What the fuck happened there?"

"When are we going to interrogate the survivors?"

"Probably later, we don't have time now."

"Those fucking southerners."

"We've lost so many..."

"Don't die on us!"

"Can't you save him?"

"We're trying our best!"

"He's not awake, and that's not enough!"

"Put the gun down! We're giving him the best equipment we've got here!"

"Shit, I think we should get back to work now. If it was Luca, he would tell us the same thing."

"I'm staying!"

"We need to monitor him in a bacteria-free room!"

"Doc, just leave her. A lot of stuff's going through her mind now. Let's just hope that everything just plays out the way we want..." 

***** When I woke up, I was in a room filled with medical equipment that surrounded me. I turned to see the bright sunlight shining through the curtains.

"I thought I was dead?" I muttered in confusion, raising my hand to block the sunlight.

"Hmm..." a voice murmured. I turned to see a girl dozing off on the side of my bed.

"Did I worry you?" I murmured, patting her head lightly. "Sorry about that..."

"Luca?" Yuuna stuttered.

"Did I wake you?" I apologized as I stroke her hair.

"You're awake!" she exclaimed, her eyes wide open.

"Not gonna just die from some random attack," I teased.

"Don't joke about it! You only had a slight chance of surviving, the doctors almost gave up on you!" Yuuna shouted as tears started to drop from her eyes.

"Sorry..." I apologized as I wiped away her tears with my finger. "I'll be careful next time."

"You better," she murmured, puffing her cheeks.

"Hey..." I murmured. I held my hand against her redden cheeks and slowly moved closer.

"Luca, you're awake!" Daniel exclaimed as the door burst opened and people flooded in.

"Good job on surviving," Alex teased.

"Nyah!" Yuuna squeaked in surprise as the two of us turned to greet the others.

"Uh..." I stammered.

"Were we interrupting?" Joseph teased.

"Sorry..." Lindsey added. "We shall take our leave now."

"Come back! It's not what you think it is!" I wailed.

"You idiot!" Yuuna squeaked as she pushed her hands on my face.

"I should've stayed in the coma..." I groaned as my friends burst into laughter. 

Note: Luca is Lucania's nickname


	9. Chapter 9 - Secrets

_PRESENT_

***** "I'm tired of swimming, can we take a rest?" Karen whined as approached the beaches of Jagged Island.

"Sure, but we're going to have to scout the island," I replied as I stood up, my feet touching the sandy bottom. After a few minutes of procrastination and a small water fight, we were out of the water, still in our swimsuits, with the hot sun blazing down on us.

"Armor suit," I ordered casually as my swimsuit changed into an armor suit.

"Come!" Karen exclaimed, and a full suit of armor appeared around her.

She could easily summon her suit with just one word!? I shouted in my mind, surprised at her skills.

"I feel like my spot as number 1 is extremely vulnerable," I joked as she checked her weapons.

"I am ranked second overall," Karen reminded me.

"Geez, you're making having to work to actually keep this rank," I grumbled.

"Let's hope you actually start working," Karen said as she took out her primary weapon, a Type-51 Carbine, which is a semi-automatic rifle that fires radioactive projectiles.

"Sigh..." I whined as the two of us headed for the forest.

"See anything?" I asked my temporary partner.

"I'm picking up nothing on my radar," Karen informed me.

"Roger that, the forest is clear."

Just as we approached the edge of the forest, I suddenly halted.

"I see movement, and I mean a lot of movement," I growled. "Karen, go towards the right and get ready to flank them. The forest should overlap with the rocks, so get to high ground and spot them for me."

Karen nodded and hustled away quietly.

"I wished I had two M7 submachine guns with me right now..." I sighed. I activated my heat signature magic and looked through my battle rifle's scope.

"Luca, I can see about twenty bodies in the clearing," Karen whispered through the Comms.

"Roger that, are they Unknowns or humans?" I asked.

"Probably humans, I don't see any Unknown types."

"Who are they?"

"I don't know, they are wearing armored suits, but I don't recognize those. They seem to be setting up a transmitter of some sort."

"Flashbang them," I replied as I took out my BR-66.

"Roger that, on your count."

"Three, two, one... Throw now!" I ordered. I saw the flashbang land in the middle of the back and activated anti-flash on my eyes with magic. When it exploded, I dashed out of the bushes and fired my submachine gun. Karen also opened fire from above with her T-51. With those people still dazed from the flashbang, I made use of the fast-firing UMP's bullets, eliminating four of them with my first magazine. Karen's T-51, although slow firing, is very accurate. She was able to take down another five targets and tuck back into cover. When the remaining flashbang's effects faded out, Karen was back into cover behind the rocks and I was in some decent cover across from my original position.

"What the hell, who are you guys?" one of the soldiers asked.

"Same questions, who are you guys? Planting a transmitter in our territory," I shot back.

"You are the ones that are trespassing! We work for the Capital!" one of them exclaimed.

"What the hell? I don't see any permits sent from the Administration about people being here!"

"Hah, of course, you don't. We are out of your pay grade! We are scientists that work for the Capital's top Administration leaders!" another sneered.

"There's no way you can be out of my pay grade. I've got Level Black access," I growled.

"Level Black? There's no way a soldier can have access to that data unless he is a part of the Alpha..." the scientist trailed off.

"Well," I muttered as I got out of my cover. Before the soldiers could shoot me, they were taken out from behind by Karen.

"So, Mr. Scientists, got anything to say?" I asked while Karen jumped down to the clearing to join me. The remaining three people didn't quiver at all. Instead, they smiled and one of them said, "Isn't that great, Lucania the Great, the commander of the livestock..."

Before he could finish his sentence, another scientist shot him and muttered, "You're telling them too much."

"Did he just call us livestock?" Karen whispered into my ear. I nodded and raised my gun.

"There's no need to panic kids. We're scientists that work on testing out the new equipment and magic that we've researched," one of the scientists said with a smiley face. Before I could ask any more questions, a barrage of sniper bullets was fired, and the scientists fell dead.

"Shit, we've got company!" Karen growled. I turn to see a dozen or so Unknown scouts in the air, ready to fire upon us. As Karen provided cover fire for me, I rushed back into the forest to find some sort of cover.

"Karen, move back! I'll cover you!" I ordered. She then came running to my position, drawing the Unknown squadron to the ground and in my line of sight.

"Let's see what this bad-boy can do..." I muttered, aiming at the scouts as they tried to hit Karen. "Karen, flash them!"

"You shouldn't ask someone who's trying not to get shot at to stop and throw something!"

"Just toss it."

"Urgh."

Even as she complained, Karen still tossed a flashbang at the Unknowns. When the flashbang detonated, its flash blinded and disoriented the Unknowns, who temporarily lost their vision.

"Switch!" Karen squeaked as she dove for cover.

"Roger," I replied and swiftly emerged from my cover. With their vision and hearing impaired by the stun grenade, were easy targets to my three-round bursts from my BR-66. Within seconds and only expending one ammo magazine, I've seemed to have finished the Unknown scouts.

"Is it clear?" Karen asked.

"Seems so, can you go check?" I requested. She nodded and quickly headed towards the direction of the presumed-dead Unknowns. While she finished the job, I jogged towards where the scientists died. The bodies of the scientists were in horrendous shape, but I was still able to salvage their data-pads and papers in their bags and clothes.

"Let see what these things tell me," I muttered to myself as I looked through one of the data-pads. Immediately, the title sent shivers down through my spine.

"Luca, what are you reading?" Karen suddenly popped up behind me.

"Nothing much, the reports are just about the idea of setting up boundary defense," I lied.

"Let's report back!" Karen said as she headed back to the beach.

"I'm going to have to go do some researching..." I muttered as I followed Karen. At that time, I wouldn't know the chain of events that I would encounter after meeting those scientists.


	10. Chapter 10 - Summer Vacation!

***** "It's the last day of school! Summer vacation, I'm coming!" Yuuna exclaimed at breakfast.

"Shut up, I'm not ready for my department speech and school speech yet..." I growled.

"It's ok, we feel you," Daniel said as he eyed Joseph, who sighed in agreement.

"Yeah but I also have to do one for the whole school..." I whined.

"Did you sleep?"

"Of course not, Daniel and I were practicing our speeches together for the whole night!" I wailed. It's been three weeks since the incident with those Capital scientists occurred. I've been looking through all the files inside the data-pads, and have decided to share it with a person that I could really trust with this classified information.

"Are we changing dorms next year?" Alex asked.

"No, unless you want to. You live in a double with Andre, right? So it's not bad," I replied.

"Luca, I heard you were looking for me!" Lindsey said as she entered the lounge.

"Eh, where are you going?" Yuuna asked in a suspicious voice.

"I just need her to do some analyzing for me," I replied and waved her off. "Plus, why do you care?"

"Humph," she said as she puffed her cheeks.

"Luca, you made your girlfriend mad!" Daniel exclaimed as I rolled my eyes and walked away.

"She's not my girlfriend..." I muttered in annoyance as I left the dining hall. As childhood friends, I struggle to actually see her as my girlfriend, even though we almost kissed after the Taoyuan Disaster.

"So, what do you want me to do?" Lindsey asked as we walked down the hall.

"This place isn't safe; can we talk at your dorm room?" I asked.

"Hehe, you wanna do some lewd stuff?" Lindsey teased.

"Seriously, I've got some really important data that I need you to analyze and research," I stated. "You're the only one that I can really trust with this information."

"I see..." Lindsey mumbled as the two of us headed for her dorm. When we arrived at the girl's dorm, a few girls chatting in the common room spotted us as we walked past.

"Ehh, isn't that the commander?" one of them asked Lindsey.

"Guys shouldn't be in a girl's room!" another exclaimed.

"He's got something that he really needs to discuss with me," Lindsey replied coolly as we headed for the elevator. Once we entered Lindsey's room on the third floor, I immediately locked the door added an alarm on it.

"Wow, are you sure you're not gonna doing something weird here?" Lindsey asked slyly.

"We can save that for later," I teased back. "But now, we've got more important things on our hands right now."

"Ok."

"You can't tell anyone about this, promise?"

"I promise, so what is it?" Lindsey asked impatiently. I covered the windows with curtains and a sound-proof shield, which will block off our sound to other people.

"During my patrol a few weeks ago, I ran into a group of scientists that worked for the Capital. They were killed during an ambush by Unknowns and I recovered the data from them," I explained as I laid down the data. Lindsey looked at one of the data-pads and exclaimed, "What... What are these?"

"Look at these," I said, passing the other data-pads to her.

"Project Harvest, Project Hades, Project Containment... These are all classified information!" Lindsey exclaimed. "These aren't in the archives or the secret archives, these are off-the-chart missions!"

"Look at the newest one," I said and gave her another pad.

"Project Paladin Shields, goals: to create a shield that would prevent livestock from leaving this place. Livestock?" Lindsey read with confusion.

"Livestock as in us, I think," I replied.

"It says that the chips implanted in our neck would be upgraded to increase aggression towards humans. But I thought we are the humans?" Lindsey asked.

"This is the problem, I need you two to go dig out information from the archives and special archives, even from the Safe," I requested.

"The Safe? You can't go there unless you have special permission!" Lindsey exclaimed.

"I've already acquired them for you two. It not that suspicious when two girls working for the Command department are looking for files compared to the commander of the army," I replied.

"That is," Lindsey pointed out, "if we are really living in a made-up world and the brass are onto you."

"Please, I really need to know. For the sake of us!" I pleaded.

"Fine... But we have to do it during vacation time though," Lindsey replied.

"I'll treat you," I suggested.

"We can talk about the terms of surrender later. Right now, I think we should get our research starting," Lindsey gleamed.

"Thank you! I owe you two," I thanked her as I deactivated the safety items.

"By the way, why did you entrust this with me and not with Joseph?" Lindsey asked.

"Well, Joseph sometimes has a rambling mouth, and I know you are our ace at analyzing data," I explained.

"Any other reasons?" Lindsey pestered as she crawled towards me.

"Well..." I stammered.

"Well?" Lindsey persisted.

"Let's just say that you're pretty cute..." I mumbled.

"Really?"

Lindsey moved in front of me, her face almost touching me. I heart raced as her pretty face drew near me. The sixteen-year-old teenager had well-developed body, I could see her matured breasts and cleavage through her loosened uniform. A sweet apple smell from her morning-washed hair filled my nose as my heart jumped harder and harder.

This is bad, I'm really falling for her!I thought as I tried to calm myself down. Lindsey had always caught my attention somehow. I tried to stay away from my relationship and put my job as a commander in front, but no matter how hard I try, Lindsey will somehow always appear in my mind. Is this what you call love?

"Yeah..."

"Are you jealous that Atlas is dating me then?" Lindsey teased.

"No... Not really... Like, why would I care?" I grumbled.

"Don't be shy," Lindsey whispered in my ear.

"Can you not tease me?" I whined as I stood up and headed for the door.

"Aw, that's no fun," Lindsey chuckled as the two of us exited the room. Once we entered the elevator, another person walked out of Lindsey's room and said, "I didn't hear what they were talking about, but we should get eyes on the girl too. What? Yes, I think it's about Operation Livestock. Don't lock them out of the documents, or else they'll know something is wrong. We'll eliminate them when we get the chance."

***** "I'll now hand it over to your commander, Lucania Lee," Supervisor Hulkenburg said as he ended his speech. I breathed in deeply and walked onto the stage, shook hands with the supervisor and the school headmaster under the applause of the students and the teachers, and got ready on the podium.

"Give it your best!" Daniel exclaimed.

"Chill guys," I said through the microphone and laughed. "It's been a rough year for us. The Taoyuan Massacre saw us lose more than two thousand students. Unfortunately, even as adults, the Administration couldn't protect us."

The crowd murmured in agreement as people looked down with sadness in their eyes just as I spot the president of the Capital glaring at me from a private room located in the back of the auditorium.

"Ok, back to the main point. Throughout the three years as middle-schoolers and trainees, we've cried together, laughed together, fought together, and stayed together. I know it's pretty hard to accept the fact that you can lose friends during battles, but we as a group have to move on! We're not here to protect those lame adults as they sit in their air-conditioned room, but to protect ourselves and stay as a united group! We may not be family, but when you need help, there will always be people there for you!"

I paused and scanned through the students. Some were already sobbing, others were still gleaming in excitement, but most of them gave me a tired expression, their sharpness dulled by the constant bloodshed and workload.

"We started a few years ago like strangers, and I know it's hard for some of you to accept others when you have no one to be there solely for you. I really want to reiterate this, we are a family. We are a family bounded not by blood or kinship, but responsibilities and duties, by friendships and love. We aren't all connected, but when you need help, there will always be someone there for you. We are heading towards summer vacation, the essence of youth! Although school manners are still in play, you are pretty much free. Relax, enjoy it with friends, that's what summer vacation is all about. Go to the beach, go shopping, go to festivals, enjoy yourself! It's summer vacation!"

As I left the podium, I shouted, "Class dismissed!"

As the crowd applauded, I again shook hands with the supervisors and headmaster of the school. The crowd dispersed after my dismissal and headed for the exits while I quickly jumped off the stage to join up with my friends.

"Not bad," Joseph mused, "not bad at all."


End file.
